UK basketball: No dominant team in college basketball gives Cats hope
By Drew Koch
College basketball has no dominant team this year and that bodes well for this year’s young UK basketball team.
There is no dominant team in college basketball this year and that is a positive bit of news for this year’s UK basketball team. Every week there seems to be a big shake up in the AP Poll. Just this last week Michigan State, Duke, Arizona State, Xavier, Oklahoma and Kansas, all top 10 going into the week, lost.
Jay Wright’s Villanova team now sits atop the AP Poll. The same Villanova team that lost to Butler? The Butler Bulldogs are 12-5 on the year and 2-2 in Big East Conference play. West Virginia currently occupies the No.2 spot in the AP and will host Kentucky in a few weeks. However, the Mountaineers got boat-raced by Texas A&M in the opening game of the season 65-88. The Aggies have recently lost 3 straight, sit in the bottom of the SEC and square off against UK Tuesday night.
The Michigan State Spartans just lost to unranked Ohio State on the road and the Duke Blue Devils lost their last 2 conference road games to unranked opponents. Even North Carolina, ranked No. 9 in the preseason, has lost 3 of their last 5 games including a loss in Chapel Hill to Wofford.
The point is, there is no runaway favorite to cut down the nets April 2nd in San Antonio. That is good news for UK basketball fans. With this year’s team starting all freshmen, several stretches of inconsistency should have been expected. Wenyen Gabriel is the only returning Wildcat who played any meaningful minutes last season, and he only averaged 17.7 minutes per game.
Remember 2013-14?
Big Blue Nation hates to lose. You’ll hear about it on every radio show, see it on every fan page or scroll through it on social media. There is no more passionate fan base in all of college basketball. So naturally, after a loss, it’s not uncommon for fans of UK basketball to think the sky is falling.
Just remember, those same comments were made during the 2013-14 season. The Cats lost to Florida 3 times that year, including a 19-point loss in The Swamp to close out the regular season. However, that year’s team got on the same page by the NCAA Tournament and made a run all the way to the championship game.
Just like this year’s team, they were dominated by freshmen starters. Outside of Willie Cauley-Stein, all the starters were freshmen. There were also games where Dakari Johnson got the starting nod and the Cats did start all freshmen.
Big Blue Nation rode the roller coaster that season with the Cats. By the end of the regular season the UK basketball team had 9 losses. A loss in the SEC Tournament final gave them 10 heading into March Madness. As a No. 8 seed, the Cats defeated Wichita State, Louisville, Michigan and Wisconsin on their way to the National Championship.
This year’s UK basketball team could follow a similar path this season. Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure, there’s no clear cut favorite this season in college basketball.